Posts in 2016
OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2016: The race for Best Picture

Through several editorial features, here is my analysis to formulate my official Academy Award predictions.  In this seventh and final post, we have reached the top of the mountain: Best Picture.  I've said this through this entire Oscar prediction series and season.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

Read More
OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2016: The male acting awards

Through several editorial features, here is my analysis to formulate my official Academy Award predictions.  In this sixth post, we look at the races for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

Read More
OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2016: The female acting awards

Through several editorial features, here is my analysis to formulate my official Academy Award predictions.  In this fifth post, we look at the races for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

Read More
OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2016: The writing and directing awards

Through several editorial features, here is my analysis to formulate my official Academy Award predictions.  In this fourth post, we look at the writing and directing awards covering Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

Read More
OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2016: The visual and artistic categories

Through several editorial features, here is my analysis to formulate my official Academy Award predictions.  In this third post, we look at the visual and artistic categories which include Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Hair-Styling.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

Read More
OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2016: The minor film categories

Through several editorial features, here is my analysis to formulate my official Academy Award predictions.  In this second post, we look at the obscure minor film categories that include foreign films, documentaries, animated films, and short films.  Get the dartboard out, but stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

Read More
OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2016: The music and sound categories

Through several editorial features, here is my analysis to formulate my official Academy Award predictions.  In this first post, we look at the musical and sound categories that include original score, original song, sound editing, and sound mixing.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

Read More
CHECKLIST: 2016 Spring Movie Calendar

Here is your lineup of upcoming films for the ever-warming spring movie season that aims to put winter behind us.  Pick through this list for March and April and find a few winners.  Add these to your calendar or print and slip this list on the fridge. 

Read More
MOVIE REVIEW: Race

Highlighting the worthy American legend that is James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens, the new film "Race" may not roundly deviate from the tried-and-true sports film formula we have seen in dozens of films.  Nonetheless, director Stephen Hopkins's film radiates an impassioned heart that few other films of the sports genre can rival or surpass.  In a present day of questionable athletic role models (and on the timely heels of Black History Month), this is the kind of film we should be sending buses of school students of all ages to instead of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" movies.

Read More
ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW: Deadpool

If you are not a die-hard geek or comic book fan, there's a chance you've never heard of "Deadpool."  After this Presidents' Day/Valentine's Day holiday weekend, you will never forget him.  Take all of the pathos, mythology, gravitas, nobility, and world-rescuing heroism have you come to expect from a superhero film, throw them out the window, and light them on fire.  "Deadpool" is the most red-faced and side-splitting movie of the comic genre to date.  

Read More
MOVIE REVIEW: Hail, Caesar!

For this writer and website, the films of Joel and Ethan Coen are pegged as acquired tastes.  Slot the brothers and their work right next to Quentin Tarantino in that regard.  Their creative brilliance and their reverent place in the upper echelon of superb storytellers are indisputable, proven by their six Oscar wins.  Sometimes, in the measure of taste, their choices and results are a maddening or confounding mess.  When the Coen brothers are on their game, they are white hot.  "Hail, Caesar!" won't go down as one of their best, but there is no denying its draw as a thoroughly entertaining hoot. 

Read More
MOVIE REVIEW: The Finest Hours

Normally, every protagonist in a live-action Walt Disney film gets a unnecessarily thick coat of heroic paint and every encounter, obstacle, or event calls for a full-throated orchestra of peril and self-importance.  In a somewhat pleasant surprise, "The Finest Hours" avoids most of the the puffed-up flamboyance that we expect (and commonly grow tired of) from the Mouse House.  The key word is "most," as the film thankfully dials down the usual Disney over-inflation while still possessing plenty of imperfections and distractions.

Read More